The last month has been all about Tessa’s soccer. As I sit here now, we are faced with her last game. The last of years of soccer. Years of travel, park district, and school soccer. This is my third kid, so I thought I’d be alright. I had the last musical for Trent. I had the last golf match and set crew for Taryn. I thought I was prepared, but I am not. This time around, the last could have popped up at any time as we have been in the post season for the whole month of October. But here we are, with an extraordinarily talented team, back at the state championship, facing the ultimate last. Win or lose, the soccer era will come to an end. Some lasts are followed by firsts. The last day of high school is followed by the first day of college. Somehow, those transitions are a little easier. For my kids, the last day of extracurriculars in high school is just the last.
I am not sure why it’s so upsetting. There were days, bundled against the weather, that I dreamed of this day. I remember a soccer game for the Lisle Dragons that started cold, but sunny, moved to cloudy and windy, then to rain, and finally it started to snow. It was an entire year of weather in the space of one soccer game. That day, I wondered if my outdoor sports observing would ever end. Since Tayden, like Trent and Taryn, is more into the theater than sports, I am unlikely to find myself at another soccer game. It is, in fact, ending. I still have tennis, but no more soccer. And what a way to go out. The state game!!
So, I’ll take it all in. And I hope Tessa will too. It’s the start of the lasts for her, as she transitions away from high school during her senior year. It’s not easier for the third. Tessa has been at a retreat the last couple days, so I grabbed Tayden in a bear hug and asked him how it felt to be the only kid left at home. This short preview of next year. He had ALL our attention. Though I was just joking around, he got a little sad and said, “Quiet.” Poor kid. Stuck at the end of the line. I try not to think of his lasts, and the lasts those will be for me. For now, I am dealing with the difficulty of the lasts for the third kid. Trent, Taryn, and now Tessa. Never easier. To my fellow parents, what are your lasts? Any coping mechanisms that don’t involve alcohol? Or do your just bundle your emotions, like me, and try not to cry. Or try not to ugly cry anyway. Because I will cry.
Joii, this was and is your job…to help them grow to be the best person that they can be. To choose a path in life and do the best job that they can do. Do not regret “lasts”; just enjoy them to the fullest. And if you are really lucky, you will have the opportunity to do it all over again with your grandchildren, without the parenting responsibility! They will always be yours, to love and cherish and I hope they will continue to fill your heart with love, pride and joy as all of you have done for Dad and me. Our lives overflow every day with love and joy because of all of you as well as our many other very close friends!💚
Dear Lord woman!!! You have just left me in tears dreading next year! 😱😝. Yes… Riley has 1 more year of soccer… but these past two years have been so different… I remember her being in elementary school and telling the Murray boy’s grandma (who I worked with) I told her… “You just wait!… you tell Murray that when this class gets to high school – when she’s a sophomore or a junior… the amount of talent he will have will be incredible! They will be unstoppable!” And here we are… and I’m finding my theory has held true so far:). Yes… I will cry next year… but I’ll cry this year too… because what we have witnessed with this team is sooo rare and sooo special!! I’m sure people will walk past their trophy cases in the years down the road…..and Always remember what a magical time this was for WHS and it’s families! So yes… I’ll embrace it and cherish all the great memories this team has created!! Best of Luck to Tessa and the Team!! And a Thank you to them for truly making school history!!! Hang in there Joanne!! My advice?? Bring LOTS of Kleenex!!! ☺️
You have to cry and let it out. When bree had her last dance recital followed 3 months later by her last dance competition, I was a wreck. OK, truth time, I was crying at her competitions starting the previous November. All the moms would look at me and is say, you just wait, your time will come. For two years after high school, there were two of her competition songs I would hear and still sob like a baby. One was called beautiful ending and it was all about well, it’s ending but how? Well it be beautiful? So you can understand that one. The other was one short day from wicked. Towards the end of the song, the 4 seniors graduating huddled together to the line, best friends, 2 best friends. Yup, still tearing up. It doesn’t go away Joanne, embrace it.